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Sociology teachers often encounter students studying to be future health professionals; sociology content can assist students to increase their understanding of patients, the social context of health and illness, and the social determinants of health. Engaging these students in sociological thinking can be challenging because of their diverse social locations and their identification with their future profession, which may emphasize clinical competence over broader reflective skills. In this conversation piece, we encourage critical reflection on the assumptions that underpin the teaching of sociology to aspiring health professionals. Through case studies of nursing, medicine, and speech-language pathology, we consider differences in the social locations of students and how sociological ideas are received by these professions. We argue that sociology teachers can assist health professions students to gain more from sociology by understanding these student cohorts and by reflexively considering power relations between teachers and students and between disciplines and professions.

This study explored the perspectives of medical students from first-in-family (FiF) university backgrounds. Semi-structured interviews focused on steps into, and experiences of medical education, and effects of student identity on social networks. Twenty FiF medical students from one English medical school took part in qualitative interviews. Data was thematically analysed using Bourdieu's forms of capital. This research built on an earlier Australian study as part of an international collaboration. The results showed that secondary school/college financial resources for the application to medical school were variable. Medical school was a financial challenge and paid work impacted on academic learning and students' health. Not having access to medical contacts was a barrier to school work experience and for the medical school application. A lack of cultural capital meant that participants struggled with the medical degree application. Social networks increased at university; however, there was a division along the lines of educational background. Becoming a medical student had an effect on social relationships for many students ambivalent about their new status. Forms of capital were central to participants' experiences. While financial challenges and work experience barriers need addressing, FiF medical student mentors can play an important role in widening participation.

Interprofessional education (IPE)--students of different professions learning together, from and about each other--is increasingly common in health professional degrees. Despite its explicit aims of transforming identities, practices and relationships within/across health professions, IPE remains under-theorised sociologically, with most IPE scholarship focussed on evaluating specific interventions. In particular, the significance of a shared knowledge base for shaping professional power and subjectivity in IPE has been overlooked. In this paper we begin to develop a framework for theorising IPE in allied health, by drawing parallels with a cognate area in which there has already been fruitful conceptual development: interdisciplinarity. Specifically, we offer a worked example of how the two areas may be brought into dialogue, by deploying Barry, Born and Weszkalnys' (2008) conceptualisation of interdisciplinarity as a lens for understanding IPE. Following Barry et al. (2008) we delineate a number of "modes" and "logics" of knowledge-production that emerge both in IPE literature and in our own empirical study of IPE. Our empirical data are drawn from 32 semi-structured interviews with 19 allied health students participating in an IPE curriculum at one Australian university. Findings point to the emergence of interprofessional practitioner identities among students that have the potential to undermine traditional epistemological boundaries and transcend role-based distinctions in future health profession(al)s. We argue that Barry et al.'s "logic of ontology" sheds light on previously unidentified processes of transformation within IPE, and offers a theoretical framework that can explain the importance of a shared pan-professional knowledge base for the reflexive individual construction of new interprofessional ontological subjects.

Higher education is understood as essential to enabling social mobility. Research and policy have centred on access to university, but recently attention has turned to the journey of social mobility itself--and its costs. Long-distance or "extreme" social mobility journeys particularly require analysis. This paper examines journeys of first-in-family university students in the especially high-status degree of medicine, through interviews with 21 students at an Australian medical school. Three themes are discussed: (1) the roots of participants' social mobility journeys; (2) how sociocultural difference is experienced and negotiated within medical school; and (3) how participants think about their professional identities and futures. Students described getting to medical school "the hard way", and emphasised the different backgrounds and attitudes of themselves and their wealthier peers. Many felt like "imposters", using self-deprecating language to highlight their lack of "fit" in the privileged world of medicine. However, such language also reflected resistance to middle-class norms and served to create solidarity with community of origin, and, importantly, patients. Rather than narratives of loss, students' stories reflect a tactical refinement of self and "incorporation" of certain middle-class attributes, alongside an appreciation of the worth their "difference" brings to their new destination, the medical profession.

When families transition out of the Australian Defence Force, they can experience a range of challenges that pose risks to their mental health and wellbeing. These may be further complicated by a lack of access to services and low uptake of existing support. While some research has investigated the experiences of previously serving men and women, the support needs of their children have received little empirical attention. This article reports on a qualitative study that explored the experiences of young people who are now adults, when their parents left the Australian Defence Force. Themes developed included gaps in defence and civilian support, inadequate school support, military stigma and receptiveness to support, and ideas for improving strategies and support. Findings were analysed using a thematic approach, and then a socioecological lens was applied, highlighting the multilevel support needs as well as the significant service gaps experienced by young people during the military–civilian transition. IMPLICATIONS Understanding young people's experiences when their parents leave the Australian Defence Force can help social workers and other disciplines appropriately address their support needs through research and practice. Engagement and service provision efforts should consider the multilevel systems that protect young people from experiencing critical or long-term impacts. They should recognise the role of young people's agency, acknowledging that experiences during the military–civilian transition are not homogenous. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

India's public health system aims to foster pluralism by integrating AYUSH (Ayurveda, Yoga & Naturopathy, Unani, Siddha, and Homeopathy) with mainstream biomedical care. This policy change provides an opportunity to explore the complexity of health system innovation, addressing the relationship between biomedicine and complementary or alternative medicine. Implementing health policy depends on local, societal, and political contexts that shape intervention in practice. This qualitative case study explores contextual features that have influenced AYUSH integration and examines the extent to which practitioners are able to exercise agency in these contexts. Health system stakeholders were interviewed (n = 37) and integration activities observed. The analysis identifies contextual factors in health administration, health facilities, community, and wider society which influence the integration process. In the administrative and facility spheres, pre-existing administrative measures, resource and capacity deficits limit access to AYUSH medicines and opportunities to build relationships between biomedical and AYUSH doctors. At the community and society levels, rural AYUSH acceptance facilitates integration into formal healthcare, while professional organisations and media support integrative processes by holding health services accountable. The findings also demonstrate how, amid these contextual influences, AYUSH doctors navigate the health system hierarchies, despite issues with system knowledge against a background of medical dominance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Medical students from affluent and highly educated backgrounds remain overrepresented in Canadian medical schools despite widespread efforts to improve diversity. Little is known of the medical school experiences of students who are first in their family (FiF) to attend university. Drawing on Bourdieu and a critically reflexive lens, this study explored the experiences of FiF students in a Canadian medical school to better understand the ways in which the medical school environment can be exclusive and inequitable to underrepresented students. Methods: We interviewed 17 medical students who self‐identified as being FiF to attend university. Utilising theoretical sampling, we also interviewed five students who identified as being from medical families to test our emerging theoretical framework. Participants were asked to discuss what 'first in family' meant to them, their journey into medical school and their experiences at medical school. Bourdieu's theories and concepts were used as sensitising concepts to explore the data. Results: FiF students discussed the implicit messages they received about who belongs in medical school, challenges in shifting from their pre‐medical lives to a medical identity and competing with peers for residency programmes. They reflected on the advantages they perceived they had over their fellow students due to their less 'typical' social backgrounds. Conclusion: While medical schools continue to make strides when it comes to increasing diversity, inclusivity and equity require increased attention. Our findings highlight the ongoing need for structural and cultural change at admissions and beyond—change that recognises the much‐needed presence and perspectives that underrepresented medical students, including those who are FiF, bring to medical education and healthcare. Engaging in critical reflexivity represents a key way that medical schools can continue to address issues of equity, diversity and inclusion. Medical school environments can be exclusionary and inequitable to first in family medical students. Critical reflexivity is proposed as a way forward to help foster more inclusive and equitable learning environments. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper addresses the question "what are the variables influencing social interactions and learning during Authentic Early Experience (AEE)?" AEE is a complex educational intervention for new medical students. Following critique of the existing literature, multiple qualitative methods were used to create a study framework conceptually orientated to a socio-cultural perspective. Study participants were recruited from three groups at one UK medical school: students, workplace supervisors, and medical school faculty. A series of intersecting spectra identified in the data describe dyadic variables that make explicit the parameters within which social interactions are conducted in this setting. Four of the spectra describe social processes related to being in workplaces and developing the ability to manage interactions during authentic early experiences. These are: (1) legitimacy expressed through invited participation or exclusion; (2) finding a role--a spectrum from student identity to doctor mindset; (3) personal perspectives and discomfort in transition from lay to medical; and, (4) taking responsibility for "risk"--moving from aversion to management through graded progression of responsibility. Four further spectra describe educational consequences of social interactions. These spectra identify how the reality of learning is shaped through social interactions and are (1) generic-specific objectives, (2) parallel-integrated-learning, (3) context specific-transferable learning and (4) performing or simulating-reality. Attention to these variables is important if educators are to maximise constructive learning from AEE. Application of each of the spectra could assist workplace supervisors to maximise the positive learning potential of specific workplaces.

Research on why people use complementary and alternative medicine (CAM) shows clients value the CAM consultation, where they feel listened to and empowered to control their own health. Such 'empowerment' through CAM use is often theorised as reflecting wider neoliberal imperatives of self‐responsibility. CAM users' perspectives are well studied, but there has been little sociological analysis of interactions within the CAM consultation. Specifically, it is unclear how user empowerment/self‐knowledge relates to the CAM practitioner's power and expert knowledge. We address this using audio‐recorded consultations and interviews with CAM practitioners to explore knowledge use in client‐practitioner interactions and its meaning for practitioners. Based on our analysis and drawing on Foucault (1973), The Birth of the Clinic: an archaeology of medical perception and Antonovsky (1979), Health, Stress and Coping, we theorise the operation of power/knowledge in the CAM practitioner‐client dyad by introducing the concept of the 'salutogenic gaze'. This gaze operates in the CAM consultation with disciplining and productive effects that are oriented towards health promotion. Practitioners listen to and value clients' stories, but their gaze also incorporates surveillance and normalisation, aided by technologies that may or may not be shared with clients. Because the salutogenic gaze is ultimately transferred from practitioner to client, it empowers CAM users while simultaneously reinforcing the practitioner's power as a health expert. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

For decades, debates over medical curriculum reform have centred on the role of science in medical education, but the meaning of "science" in this domain is vague and the persistence of the debate has not been explained. Following Bourdieu, this paper examines struggles over legitimate knowledge and the forms of capital associated with science in contemporary UK medical education. Data are presented from a study of two UK medical schools, one with a traditional, science-oriented curriculum, another with an integrated curriculum. Constructions of legitimate knowledge were explored at both schools through six months participant observation, interviews with faculty members (n = 15) and students (n = 37) and documentary analysis. Findings show that medical schools compete for both scientific and clinical capital, but ultimately science has greater legitimacy. "Science" is defined in accordance with the structure of the traditional curriculum and has become a symbolic resource--a mark of distinction for both medical schools and medical students--which is equated with clinical competence. The significance of science is circumscribed by the medical education field, yet the struggles for scientific capital there have ramifications beyond medical education itself. It is argued that Bourdieu's concepts are particularly useful tools for studying the meanings that science takes on outside of the scientific field.

There is increasing recognition of the salience of eHealth technologies in enhancing health service capacity. Yet social work remains "behind the curve" in progressing digital practices. As the demand for digital health care increases, particularly following COVID-19, it is becoming increasingly urgent to understand how social workers engage with eHealth technologies, and how technological engagement impacts on social work practice. In this scoping review, we sought to examine eHealth use in health social work practice. Our findings suggest that, while social workers recognize the strengths and opportunities to broaden the scope of their practice, they remain concerned that eHealth may not be congruent with the values and approaches of the profession. This review provides a broad overview of health social workers' engagement with eHealth technologies and considers implications for future research that examines the nuanced and complex nature of professional values, risk, and assessment in the digital space. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Many families experience a smooth transition from military to civilian life. However, some can face intense challenges and significant disruption to family functioning, including mental health and substance use issues, domestic and family violence, marriage dissatisfaction or family breakdown, and even suicide. While some research has examined these transition experiences of ex‐serving men and women, few studies have focused on their children. Understanding the challenges and opportunities the military–civilian transition poses for young people is crucial if we are to develop effective interventions to meet their needs in the future. This paper reports on findings from a qualitative study that retrospectively explored the experiences of young people from ex‐serving Australian Defence Force families when their parents left the military. Using thematic analyses, three key themes relating to military family dynamics were identified: (i) increased mental health stress, (ii) shifts in family relationships and dynamics, and (iii) domestic violence and maltreatment. These themes are discussed alongside the existing literature, revealing the challenges experienced by young people during the military–civilian transition, but also their innate strengths and resources in coping with this major life event. Implications for the social work profession and for developing effective transition supports for young people from ex‐serving families are considered. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Sociology teachers often encounter students studying to be future health professionals; sociology content can assist students to increase their understanding of patients, the social context of health and illness, and the social determinants of health. Engaging these students in sociological thinking can be challenging because of their diverse social locations and their identification with their future profession, which may emphasize clinical competence over broader reflective skills. In this conversation piece, we encourage critical reflection on the assumptions that underpin the teaching of sociology to aspiring health professionals. Through case studies of nursing, medicine, and speech-language pathology, we consider differences in the social locations of students and how sociological ideas are received by these professions. We argue that sociology teachers can assist health professions students to gain more from sociology by understanding these student cohorts and by reflexively considering power relations between teachers and students and between disciplines and professions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

From its inception, the social work profession evolved in tandem with public health, and has historically contributed to public health efforts to restore, protect and promote public health principles. In recent times, however, the most prominent role for health-related social work is in hospital-based, multidisciplinary teams. Curiously, scant attention has been paid to the place of social workers' knowledge—their 'epistemic contribution'—within this medical context. This article reports the findings of a scoping review that examined the role and function of social work knowledge in healthcare teams. Thematic analysis of the literature revealed four key themes: (i) a lack of clarity and visibility—'Ok, what is my role?'; (ii) knowledge Hierarchies—'Jack of all trades and master of none'?; (iii) mediator and educator—'Social work is the glue' and (iv) public health principles—'We think big'. Findings show that despite social work's epistemic confidence, and alliance with broader public health principles and aims, its knowledge can be marginalised and excluded within the multidisciplinary team context. The article introduces Fricker's theory of 'Epistemic Injustice' as a novel framework for inquiry into health care teams, and the mobilisation of social work knowledge within them. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

To authenticate to the full-text of this article, please visit this link: http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-9566.2010.01294.x Byline: Caragh Brosnan

The technological revolution has created enormous opportunities for the provision of affordable, accessible, and flexible mental healthcare. Yet it also creates complexities and ethical challenges. While some of these challenges may be similar to face-to-face care, their nuance in the online milieu is different, as relationships, identities and boundaries in this setting are fluid, and there is an absence of physical presence. In this paper we consider the specific ethical complexities involved in the provision of a social networking intervention for depression and problematic alcohol use involving providers and peers. We present a case in which clinicians encountered a participant who repeatedly expressed suicidal thoughts in this online forum, and reflect on how this situation was managed. In analyzing this case, we use relational ethics—which proposes that interpersonal relationships are the fulcrum for ethical decision-making and action—together with actor-network theory—which highlights the power of technology to transform and mediate social and ethical relationships. Our analysis demonstrates the need to move beyond human-centric approaches, to recognize the role of both human and non-human actors in shaping moral decisions and behavior in the provision of e-mental healthcare. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study explored the perspectives of medical students from first-in-family (FiF) university backgrounds. Semi-structured interviews focused on steps into, and experiences of medical education, and effects of student identity on social networks. Twenty FiF medical students from one English medical school took part in qualitative interviews. Data was thematically analysed using Bourdieu's forms of capital. This research built on an earlier Australian study as part of an international collaboration. The results showed that secondary school/college financial resources for the application to medical school were variable. Medical school was a financial challenge and paid work impacted on academic learning and students' health. Not having access to medical contacts was a barrier to school work experience and for the medical school application. A lack of cultural capital meant that participants struggled with the medical degree application. Social networks increased at university; however, there was a division along the lines of educational background. Becoming a medical student had an effect on social relationships for many students ambivalent about their new status. Forms of capital were central to participants' experiences. While financial challenges and work experience barriers need addressing, FiF medical student mentors can play an important role in widening participation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Complementary and alternative medicine (CAM) degrees in Australian and British universities have come under attack from sceptics who argue that such courses teach only 'pseudoscience'. Moreover, CAM academics have themselves been publicly labelled 'quacks'. Comparatively little is known about this group of health professionals who span the two worlds of CAM practice and academia. How do they navigate between these domains, and how are their collective and individual professional identities constructed? Drawing on 47 semi-structured interviews, this paper explores the professional identities of academics working in three university-based CAM disciplines in Australia and the UK: osteopathy, chiropractic and Chinese medicine. By analysing these individuals' accounts, and building on prior research on health professions in the academy, the paper contributes to understanding how contests about professionalism and professional knowledge take place against the academic-practice divide. By focussing on a domain where knowledge claims are conspicuously contested, it highlights the salience of navigating 'epistemic stress' for both group and individual professional identity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Aim: To explore Registered Nurses' attitudes and behaviour towards patients' use of complementary therapies. Background: Despite high rates of use of complementary therapies by the general population, little is known of how nurses respond to patients' use of these therapies. Design: A two-phase sequential exploratory mixed methods design. Methods: Nineteen Registered Nurses working in Australia participated in a semi-structured interview in 2015-2016 and emerging themes informed the development of a quantitative survey instrument administered online nationwide in 2016. Findings: Emerging key themes "Promoting safe care"; "Seeking complementary therapies knowledge";" Supporting holistic health care"; and "Integrating complementary therapies in practice" were reflected in survey results. Survey responses (N = 614) revealed >90% agreement that complementary therapies align with a holistic view of health and that patients have the right to use them. Most nurses (77.5%) discussed complementary therapies with patients and 91.8% believed nurses should have some understanding of the area. One-third did not recommend complementary therapies and there was a lack of overall consensus as to whether these therapies should be integrated into nursing practice. Nurses with training in complementary therapies held more positive views than those without. Conclusion: Nurses were generally supportive of patients' interest in complementary therapies, although their primary concern was safety of the patient. Despite broad acceptance that nurses should have a basic understanding of complementary therapies, there was a lack of consensus about recommendation, integration into nursing practice and referral. Further research should explore how nurses can maintain safe, patient-centred care in the evolving pluralistic healthcare system. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Higher education is understood as essential to enabling social mobility. Research and policy have centred on access to university, but recently attention has turned to the journey of social mobility itself – and its costs. Long-distance or ‘extreme’ social mobility journeys particularly require analysis. This paper examines journeys of first-in-family university students in the especially high-status degree of medicine, through interviews with 21 students at an Australian medical school. Three themes are discussed: (1) the roots of participants’ social mobility journeys; (2) how sociocultural difference is experienced and negotiated within medical school; and (3) how participants think about their professional identities and futures. Students described getting to medical school ‘the hard way’, and emphasised the different backgrounds and attitudes of themselves and their wealthier peers. Many felt like ‘imposters’, using self-deprecating language to highlight their lack of ‘fit’ in the privileged world of medicine. However, such language also reflected resistance to middle-class norms and served to create solidarity with community of origin, and, importantly, patients. Rather than narratives of loss, students’ stories reflect a tactical refinement of self andincorporationof certain middle-class attributes, alongside an appreciation of the worth their ‘difference’ brings to their new destination, the medical profession. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Context Students from backgrounds of low socio-economic status ( SES) or who are first in family to attend university (FiF) are under-represented in medicine. Research has focused on these students' pre-admission perceptions of medicine, rather than on their lived experience as medical students. Such research is necessary to monitor and understand the potential perpetuation of disadvantage within medical schools. Objectives This study drew on the theory of Bourdieu to explore FiF students' experiences at one Australian medical school, aiming to identify any barriers faced and inform strategies for equity. Methods Twenty-two FiF students were interviewed about their backgrounds, expectations and experiences of medical school. Interviews were recorded, transcribed and analysed thematically. Findings illustrate the influence and interaction of Bourdieu's principal forms of capital (social, economic and cultural) in FiF students' experiences. Results The absence of health professionals within participants' networks (social capital) was experienced as a barrier to connecting with fellow students and accessing placements. Financial concerns were common among interviewees who juggled paid work with study and worried about expenses associated with the medical programme. Finally, participants' 'medical student' status provided access to new forms of cultural capital, a transition that was received with some ambivalence by participants themselves and their existing social networks. Conclusions This study revealed the gaps between the forms of capital valued in medical education and those accessible to FiF students. Admitting more students from diverse backgrounds is only one part of the solution; widening participation strategies need to address challenges for FiF students during medical school and should enable students to retain, rather than subdue, their existing, diverse forms of social and cultural capital. Embracing the diversity sought in admissions is likely to benefit student learning, as well as the communities graduates will serve. Change must ideally go beyond medical programmes to address medical culture itself. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

There is increasing pressure on complementary and alternative medicine (CAM) to follow the evidence-based approach promoted in allied health and medicine, in which the randomised control trial represents the evidence gold standard. However, many CAM advocates see these methods as undermining the holism of CAM practice. This paper explores how such tensions are managed in CAM university departments – settings in which particular forms of knowledge and evidence are given 'official' imprimatur by CAM educators and researchers. By comparing two types of CAM, the paper also unpacks differences within this broad category, asking whether CAM academic disciplines comprise different 'epistemic cultures' (Knorr-Cetina, K. (1999). Epistemic cultures: How the sciences make knowledge. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press). Interviews were conducted with 20 lecturers in Chinese medicine and osteopathy, across five Australian universities, and augmented with observation in two degree programs. Findings reveal contrasting ontological and epistemological perspectives between the two academic fields. Chinese medicine lecturers had largely adopted bioscientific models of research, typically conducting laboratory work and trials, although teaching included traditional theories. Osteopathy academics were more critical of dominant approaches and were focused on reframing notions of evidence to account for experiences, with some advocating qualitative research. The study illustrates CAM's 'epistemic disunity' while also highlighting the particular challenges facing academic CAM. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

High quality education programs are essential for preparing the next generation of Chinese medicine (CM) practitioners. Currently, training in CM occurs within differing health and education policy contexts. There has been little analysis of the factors influencing the form and status of CM education in different regions. Such a task is important for understanding how CM is evolving internationally and predicting future workforce characteristics. This paper compares the status of CM education in Australia and Hong Kong across a range of dimensions: historical and current positions in the national higher education system, regulatory context and relationship to the health system, and public and professional legitimacy. The analysis highlights the different ways in which CM education is developing in these settings, with Hong Kong providing somewhat greater access to clinical training opportunities for CM students. However, common trends and challenges shape CM education in both regions, including marginalisation from mainstream health professions, a small but established presence in universities, and an emphasis on biomedical research. Three factors stand out as significant for the evolution of CM education in Australia and Hong Kong and may have international implications: continuing biomedical dominance, increased competition between universities, and strengthened links with mainland China. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper presents findings from an empirical study that explored the meaning of ethics in the everyday work of neuroscientists. Observation and interviews were carried out in one neuroscience research group that was involved in bench-to-bedside translational research. We focus here specifically on the scientists’ perceptions of bioethics. Interviewees were often unfamiliar with bioethics as a discipline, particularly the more junior members of the group. Those who were aware of its existence largely viewed it as something distant from them, and as either too abstract, not relevant or an alien imposition on their work. Some interviewees themselves pointed to the need for better ‘bridge building’ between ethical principles and real-world examples drawn from scientific practice, and we argue that this space is where a more empirically grounded ethics may be useful in terms of actually engaging scientists at both the bench and the bedside. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Background: Theoretical integration is a necessary element of study design if clarification of experiential learning is to be achieved. There are few published examples demonstrating how this can be achieved. Aims: This methodological article provides a worked example of research methodology that achieved clarification of authentic early experiences (AEEs) through a bi-directional approach to theory and data. Methods: Bi-directional refers to our simultaneous use of theory to guide and interrogate empirical data and the use of empirical data to refine theory. We explain the five steps of our methodological approach: (1) understanding the context; (2) critique on existing applications of socio-cultural models to inform study design; (3) data generation; (4) analysis and interpretation and (5) theoretical development through a novel application of Mtis. Results: These steps resulted in understanding of how and why different outcomes arose from students participating in AEE. Our approach offers a mechanism for clarification without which evidence-based effective ways to maximise constructive learning cannot be developed. In our example it also contributed to greater theoretical understanding of the influence of social interactions. Conclusion: By sharing this example of research undertaken to develop both theory and educational practice we hope to assist others seeking to conduct similar research. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The sudden emergence of the discipline 'neuroethics' is an intriguing event from the perspective of the sociologies of medicine, science and bioethics. Despite calls for greater social science engagement with neuroethics, it has so far received little attention. So that sociologists might consider how to engage with the field, and in order to simultaneously contribute towards a sociology of neuroethics, this paper explores neuroethics' disciplinary identity via a critical analysis of literature defining neuroethics' scope and role. Drawing on the sociologies of bioethics and expectations, I argue that in setting the neuroethical agenda, neuroethicists construct expectations about the future of neuroscience. In doing so, they align themselves with neuroscience, rather than maintaining a critical distance. Similar critiques have been made of bioethics, but in its efforts to distinguish itself from bioethics, neuroethics appears to exacerbate many of the attributes which sociologists have found problematic. This reinforces the need for critical social science perspectives to inform neuroethics, and also shows how neuroethics is potentially an interesting area of empirical study for sociology. However, the paper concludes by calling for critical reflexivity in sociology's engagement with neuroethics, in light of recent debates surrounding the relationship between social science, bioethics, bioscience and expectations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

An introduction is presented in which the editor discusses various reports within the issue including the health knowledge legitimisation, the management of the evidence-based medicine challenges, and the embodied knowledge in health care.